Mailbag

European travellers 'mildy indifferent'!

The findings that European business travellers are least concerned about safety when compared to our American and Asian Pacific counterparts is, I think both good news and bad. (MIT November)

The ‘bad’ is that it could indicate that we are not as aware as we should be of the very real threats that surround us as we travel as part of our work, and we should be more alert to potential dangers.

The ‘good’ however could be that it’s testament to the great spirit that we have in Europe that those intent on disrupting our daily lives won’t win, and are more worried about forgetting our phone chargers.

I suspect the truth is somewhere in between, and long may it continue!

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Graeme Saunders, Sandals Resorts
23/11/2017[0]

Future of the fam

I read with interest your article in the November edition of M&IT called Future of the fam and in particular the comment made by Jan Williams in the “Fam Trips gone wrong” section. I wanted to assure both buyers and bookers that this incident did not take place on a Sandals Resorts fam trip. Although fun, our fam trips are educational and professional and behaviour of this nature is not tolerated.

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Mark Dodds of Roythornes Solicitors
06/10/2017[0]

Is GDPR the ‘Millennium Bug’ part 2?

There’s no doubt that the spectre of GDPR is on the horizon and that it will undoubtedly affect us all in the way we run our businesses.

I can’t help thinking however that it’s in danger of becoming a ‘millennium bug’ part 2, in that we’ll soon have a raft of GDPR consultants knocking at our doors offering to ‘strategically consult’ on our data for a few grand a time.

Having said that, it’s not to be ignored and if it does no more than make us all think about the relevance and use of the data we hoard than it can only be a good thing.

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Tracey Jones
24/08/2017[2]

How the freeloaders operate

On the issue of sharing, (http://www.meetpie.com/modules/NewsModule/newsdetails.aspx?t=Industry-blacklist-forces-one-freeloader-into-retirement-claims-website&newsid=26065) there are a group of people (mainly PAs but some freeloaders in that group too) who run a sort of events "syndicate". As soon as an invitation is received by one member it's automatically sent to everyone else in the group. Everyone in the group will RSVP (with plus 1s) thereby increasing each member's chance of attendance. It doesn't matter who gets accepted/ confirmed because any member of the group will attend, regardless of the name on the list (organisers don't know one person from another). There are about ten of them on this email list, each with a plus 1 so that's 20 people you can block for a start!

Event Organiser
04/09/2017

Any chance Tracey gave the names of these thieves to Meetpie? Can't wait until their email access to free food and drink is cut off! I'm sure there are more than 20 people doing this.

John Fisher of FMI Group
27/10/2017

There are commercial developments going on in retail around facial recognition technology. One of them is for CCTV cameras to recognize convicted shoplifters as they enter a store and send a text message to the store detectives. I wonder if this technology could be used at EIBTM or any of the major award ceremonies to dob in the freeloaders? Their pictures could then be screened around the exhibition areas or the main stage to warn exhibitors and delegates. What fun!

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Mark Dodds of Roythornes Solicitors
07/08/2017[0]

No surprise that above inflation price rises lead to decline in sales.

It doesn't need a degree in rocket science to see why hotels upping their rates by twice inflation leads to a decline in sales. (Editors Blog 7/8/17).

Brexit is a great excuse, but if venues took a harder look at themselves they may find the decline in sales is more to do with their continual uplift in rates rather than a vote on our participation in Europe.

It's more than covering costs, and the sooner they realise that we're all in it together the sooner their sales figures will recover.

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Bill Prosser of The Competitive Edge
24/07/2017[0]

Permission for Commission

The argument against commission is one that airlines made 20 years ago

Unfortunately it is the small agencies that will suffer while the larger ones are able to negotiate preferential rates and marketing contributions

But there is a stronger case for venues not taking commission from event suppliers

We are organising a dinner for 600 people at an historic venue this evening. While we received 8% commission on the £60k venue hire the venue has charged at least 10% commission to the suppliers working for us which include marquee supplier, caterers, production and entertainment - the total budget for which was around £550k. SO the venue has charged our suppliers £55k in commission

We have another event at a large London venue next month where we needed a specialist Indian caterer - and there were none on the venue's Approved Supplier list

The venue said it was no problem to bring in another caterer - but they would have to pay the venue 15% commission - which would, of course, be added to our bill

If we are going to scrap venue commissions I say let's get rid of all of them!

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